Narrow bandwidth part time utilization for reduced capability devices

ABSTRACT

Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A network may manage and configure narrow bandwidth parts (NBWPs) for reduced capability user equipment (UEs) based on data priorities, load conditions, etc. For example, in some cases, a NBWP may be associated with some active time interval (e.g., or a UE may be able to utilize a NBWP for some active time interval). A base station may configure periodic NBWPs (e.g., where NBWPs may be active in time according to some periodicity and start time), semi-persistent NBWPs (e.g., where explicit NBWP activation indications and NBWP deactivation indications may be sent by the base station), aperiodic NBWPs (e.g., where the base station may activate a NBWP for some signaled active time interval), or some combination thereof. Additionally or alternatively, a network may support on-demand NBWP activation, timer (e.g., inactivity timer) based deactivation of NBWPs, etc.

CROSS REFERENCE

The present Application for Patent claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 62/976,123 by SAKHNINI et al.,entitled “NARROW BANDWIDTH PART TIME UTILIZATION FOR REDUCED CAPABILITYDEVICES,” filed Feb. 13, 2020, assigned to the assignee hereof, andexpressly incorporated by reference herein.

BACKGROUND

The following relates generally to wireless communications, and morespecifically to narrow bandwidth part (NBWP) time utilization forreduced capability devices.

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide varioustypes of communication content such as voice, video, packet data,messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable ofsupporting communication with multiple users by sharing the availablesystem resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of suchmultiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such asLong Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, orLTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may bereferred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employtechnologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time divisionmultiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA),orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discreteFourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing(DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system mayinclude a number of base stations or network access nodes, eachsimultaneously supporting communication for multiple communicationdevices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).

In some wireless communications systems, connections may be establishedusing a relatively wide channel frequency bandwidth. In some cases, oneor more portions of the channel frequency bandwidth (e.g., which may bereferred to as bandwidth parts (BWPs)) may be used for communicationswith a UE. For example, a carrier may be associated with a particularbandwidth of the radio frequency spectrum, and the carrier bandwidth maybe one of a number of predetermined bandwidths for carriers of aparticular radio access technology (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or80 MHz). In some examples, each served UE 115 may be configured foroperating over portions of the carrier bandwidth or over BWPs, or foroperating over all of the carrier bandwidth. In some cases, monitoringand utilization of BWPs may be a computation burden for some devices(e.g., such as devices with reduced capability).

SUMMARY

The described techniques relate to improved methods, systems, devices,and apparatuses that support narrow bandwidth part (NBWP) timeutilization for reduced capability devices. Generally, the describedtechniques provide for implementation of NBWPs (e.g., for reducedcapability devices, such as reduced capability user equipment (UEs), NewRadio (NR)-light UEs, or low tier UEs). For example, a NBWP may sharesimilar parameters with a BWP (e.g., such as an NR BWP) and may beestablished over a reduced bandwidth to support UEs with reducedcomplexity features (e.g., such as UEs with reduced bandwidthcapabilities). The techniques described herein may provide for networkcontrol of NBWPs (e.g., network activation of NBWPs, networkdeactivation of NBWPs, etc.), as well as for UE utilization of NBWPs.For example, a network (e.g., a base station) may activate NBWPs for oneor more UEs. When a NBWP is active for a given UE, the UE may utilizethe NBWP (e.g., the UE may monitor the NBWP for reference signals orutilize the NBWP for uplink/downlink communications) to support reducedbandwidth capabilities of the UE.

According to some aspects of the described techniques, a network maymanage and configure NBWPs based on data priorities, load conditions(e.g., reduced capability UE load, as well as load associated with otherdevices or communications in the network), etc. For example, in somecases, a NBWP may be associated with some active time interval (e.g., ora UE may be able to utilize a NBWP for some active time interval). Abase station may configure periodic NBWPs (e.g., where NBWPs may beactive in time according to some periodicity and start time),semi-persistent NBWPs (e.g., where explicit NBWP activation indicationsand NBWP deactivation indications may be sent by the base station),aperiodic NBWPs (e.g., where the base station may activate a NBWP forsome signaled active time interval), or some combination thereof.Additionally or alternatively, a network may support on-demand NBWPactivation, where a UE may send a NBWP activation request and inresponse the network may activate a NBWP or deny the request. As yetanother example, networks may employ timer based deactivation of NBWPs(e.g., where if the network detects inactivity on a NBWP for some timerduration, the NBWP may be deactivated).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a system for wireless communicationsthat supports narrow bandwidth part (NBWP) time utilization for reducedcapability devices in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system thatsupports NBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a NBWP configuration diagram thatsupports NBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a process flow that supports NBWP timeutilization for reduced capability devices in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of an architecture that supports NBWP timeutilization for reduced capability devices in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show block diagrams of devices that support NBWP timeutilization for reduced capability devices in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram of a communications manager that supportsNBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 9 shows a diagram of a system including a device that supports NBWPtime utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 10 and 11 show block diagrams of devices that support NBWP timeutilization for reduced capability devices in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure.

FIG. 12 shows a block diagram of a communications manager that supportsNBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure.

FIG. 13 shows a diagram of a system including a device that supportsNBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 14 through 17 show flowcharts illustrating methods that supportNBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Wireless communications systems may support communication links betweenwireless devices (e.g., such a base station and a user equipment (UE)),such that wireless devices may communicate in radio frequency spectrumbands. For example, a base station and a UE may operate over a carrierbandwidth. In some cases, wireless communications systems (e.g., a basestation) may divide the carrier bandwidth into multiple (e.g., up to twoor four) bandwidth parts (BWPs) that may be used for communications witha UE. Each BWP may include a contiguous set of resource blocks (RBs) ona carrier bandwidth, and different BWPs may or may not be contiguous infrequency (e.g., a BWP may be adjacent in frequency to another BWP, or aBWP may have gaps or guard bands to adjacent BWPs). In some cases, BWPsmay be configured with different properties (e.g., protocol features,numerologies, modulation schemes, or physical channels). Further, insome cases, BWPs may be defined for some carriers (e.g., a New Radio(NR) carrier may define up to four NR BWPs, and each NR BWP may havesome defined bandwidth, set of properties/parameters, etc.). In someaspects, a BWP may be configured for one or more radio accesstechnologies.

Further, some wireless communications systems may support reducedcapability UEs. A reduced capability UE (e.g., a low tier UE or aNR-light UE) may operate with one or more of a reduced transmit power, areduced number of transmit and/or receive antennas, a reducedtransmit/receive bandwidth, or reduced computational complexity. Forexample, a reduced capability UE may be a smart wearable device, anindustrial sensor, a video surveillance device, etc. The techniquesdescribed herein may provide for implementation of narrow BWPs (NBWPs)to reduce BWP bandwidth and support complexity (e.g., bandwidth)reduction features for reduced capability UEs.

For example, a NBWP may share similar parameters with a BWP (e.g., suchas an NR BWP) and may be established over a reduced bandwidth to supportUEs with reduced complexity features (e.g., such as UEs with reducedbandwidth capabilities). The techniques described herein may provide fornetwork control of NBWPs (e.g., network activation of NBWPs, networkdeactivation of NBWPs, etc.), as well as for UE utilization of NBWPs.For example, a network (e.g., a base station) may activate NBWPs for oneor more UEs. When a NBWP is active for a given UE, the UE may utilizethe NBWP (e.g., the UE may monitor the NBWP for reference signals orutilize the NBWP for uplink/downlink communications) to support reducedbandwidth capabilities of the UE.

According to the described techniques, reduced capability UEs may thusreduce power consumption and conserve computational resources byreducing its operating bandwidth (e.g., of monitoring BWPs such as, forexample NR BWPs). For instance, it may be efficient for reducedcapability UEs to monitor or utilize a NBWP based on reduced amounts ofdata to be transferred, less frequent data transfers, etc. Accordingly,reduced capability UEs may reduce bandwidth and power consumption duringcommunications with a base station. Further, the techniques describedherein may provide for efficient network configuration and management ofNBWPs, such that wireless communications systems may effectively handlevarious data priorities, load conditions (e.g., reduced capability UEload, as well as load associated with other devices or communications inthe network), etc.

Aspects of the disclosure are initially described in the context ofexample wireless communications systems. An example NBWP configurationdiagram, an example process flow, and an example architecture are thendescribed. Aspects of the disclosure are further illustrated by anddescribed with reference to apparatus diagrams, system diagrams, andflowcharts that relate to NBWP time utilization for reduced capabilitydevices.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 100that supports NBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The wirelesscommunications system 100 may include one or more base stations 105, oneor more UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wirelesscommunications system 100 may be a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, anLTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, or a NR network. Insome examples, the wireless communications system 100 may supportenhanced broadband communications, ultra-reliable (e.g., missioncritical) communications, low latency communications, communicationswith low-cost and low-complexity devices, or any combination thereof.

The base stations 105 may be dispersed throughout a geographic area toform the wireless communications system 100 and may be devices indifferent forms or having different capabilities. The base stations 105and the UEs 115 may wirelessly communicate via one or more communicationlinks 125. Each base station 105 may provide a coverage area 110 overwhich the UEs 115 and the base station 105 may establish one or morecommunication links 125. The coverage area 110 may be an example of ageographic area over which a base station 105 and a UE 115 may supportthe communication of signals according to one or more radio accesstechnologies.

The UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout a coverage area 110 of thewireless communications system 100, and each UE 115 may be stationary,or mobile, or both at different times. The UEs 115 may be devices indifferent forms or having different capabilities. Some example UEs 115are illustrated in FIG. 1. The UEs 115 described herein may be able tocommunicate with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, thebase stations 105, or network equipment (e.g., core network nodes, relaydevices, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, or other networkequipment), as shown in FIG. 1.

The base stations 105 may communicate with the core network 130, or withone another, or both. For example, the base stations 105 may interfacewith the core network 130 through one or more backhaul links 120 (e.g.,via an S1, N2, N3, or other interface). The base stations 105 maycommunicate with one another over the backhaul links 120 (e.g., via anX2, Xn, or other interface) either directly (e.g., directly between basestations 105), or indirectly (e.g., via core network 130), or both. Insome examples, the backhaul links 120 may be or include one or morewireless links.

One or more of the base stations 105 described herein may include or maybe referred to by a person having ordinary skill in the art as a basetransceiver station, a radio base station, an access point, a radiotransceiver, a NodeB, an eNodeB (eNB), a next-generation NodeB or agiga-NodeB (either of which may be referred to as a gNB), a Home NodeB,a Home eNodeB, or other suitable terminology.

A UE 115 may include or may be referred to as a mobile device, awireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a subscriberdevice, or some other suitable terminology, where the “device” may alsobe referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, amongother examples. A UE 115 may also include or may be referred to as apersonal electronic device such as a cellular phone, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, or a personalcomputer. In some examples, a UE 115 may include or be referred to as awireless local loop (WLL) station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device,an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or a machine type communications(MTC) device, among other examples, which may be implemented in variousobjects such as appliances, or vehicles, meters, among other examples.

The UEs 115 described herein may be able to communicate with varioustypes of devices, such as other UEs 115 that may sometimes act as relaysas well as the base stations 105 and the network equipment includingmacro eNBs or gNBs, small cell eNBs or gNBs, or relay base stations,among other examples, as shown in FIG. 1.

The UEs 115 and the base stations 105 may wirelessly communicate withone another via one or more communication links 125 over one or morecarriers. The term “carrier” may refer to a set of radio frequencyspectrum resources having a defined physical layer structure forsupporting the communication links 125. For example, a carrier used fora communication link 125 may include a portion of a radio frequencyspectrum band (e.g., a BWP) that is operated according to one or morephysical layer channels for a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE,LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel may carry acquisitionsignaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), controlsignaling that coordinates operation for the carrier, user data, orother signaling. The wireless communications system 100 may supportcommunication with a UE 115 using carrier aggregation or multi-carrieroperation. A UE 115 may be configured with multiple downlink componentcarriers and one or more uplink component carriers according to acarrier aggregation configuration. Carrier aggregation may be used withboth frequency division duplexing (FDD) and time division duplexing(TDD) component carriers.

Signal waveforms transmitted over a carrier may be made up of multiplesubcarriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques suchas orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fouriertransform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM)). In a system employing MCMtechniques, a resource element may include one symbol period (e.g., aduration of one modulation symbol) and one subcarrier, where the symbolperiod and subcarrier spacing are inversely related. The number of bitscarried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme(e.g., the order of the modulation scheme, the coding rate of themodulation scheme, or both). Thus, the more resource elements that a UE115 receives and the higher the order of the modulation scheme, thehigher the data rate may be for the UE 115. A wireless communicationsresource may refer to a combination of a radio frequency spectrumresource, a time resource, and a spatial resource (e.g., spatial layersor beams), and the use of multiple spatial layers may further increasethe data rate or data integrity for communications with a UE 115.

One or more numerologies for a carrier may be supported, where anumerology may include a subcarrier spacing (Δf) and a cyclic prefix. Acarrier may be divided into one or more BWPs having the same ordifferent numerologies. In some examples, a UE 115 may be configuredwith multiple BWPs. In some examples, a single BWP for a carrier may beactive at a given time and communications for the UE 115 may berestricted to one or more active BWPs. According to the techniquesdescribed herein, a carrier (e.g., a carrier bandwidth) may further bedivided into one or more NBWPs. In some examples, a UE 115 (e.g., areduced capability UE 115) may be configured with one NBWP active forthe UE 115 at a given time. Further, a base station 105 may configure(e.g., activate or deactivate) one or more NBWPs, which in some casesmay be utilized by UEs 115 when active, as discussed herein.

The time intervals for the base stations 105 or the UEs 115 may beexpressed in multiples of a basic time unit which may, for example,refer to a sampling period of T_s=1/((Δf_max·N_f)) seconds, where Δf_maxmay represent the maximum supported subcarrier spacing, and N_f mayrepresent the maximum supported discrete Fourier transform (DFT) size.Time intervals of a communications resource may be organized accordingto radio frames each having a specified duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds(ms)). Each radio frame may be identified by a system frame number (SFN)(e.g., ranging from 0 to 1023).

Each frame may include multiple consecutively numbered subframes orslots, and each subframe or slot may have the same duration. In someexamples, a frame may be divided (e.g., in the time domain) intosubframes, and each subframe may be further divided into a number ofslots. Alternatively, each frame may include a variable number of slots,and the number of slots may depend on subcarrier spacing. Each slot mayinclude a number of symbol periods (e.g., depending on the length of thecyclic prefix prepended to each symbol period). In some wirelesscommunications systems 100, a slot may further be divided into multiplemini-slots containing one or more symbols. Excluding the cyclic prefix,each symbol period may contain one or more (e.g., N_f) sampling periods.The duration of a symbol period may depend on the subcarrier spacing orfrequency band of operation.

A subframe, a slot, a mini-slot, or a symbol may be the smallestscheduling unit (e.g., in the time domain) of the wirelesscommunications system 100 and may be referred to as a transmission timeinterval (TTI). In some examples, the TTI duration (e.g., the number ofsymbol periods in a TTI) may be variable. Additionally or alternatively,the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communications system 100may be dynamically selected (e.g., in bursts of shortened TTIs (sTTIs)).

Physical channels may be multiplexed on a carrier according to varioustechniques. A physical control channel and a physical data channel maybe multiplexed on a downlink carrier, for example, using one or more oftime division multiplexing (TDM) techniques, frequency divisionmultiplexing (FDM) techniques, or hybrid TDM-FDM techniques. A controlregion (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET)) for a physical controlchannel may be defined by a number of symbol periods and may extendacross the system bandwidth or a subset of the system bandwidth of thecarrier. One or more control regions (e.g., CORESETs) may be configuredfor a set of the UEs 115. For example, one or more of the UEs 115 maymonitor or search control regions for control information according toone or more search space sets, and each search space set may include oneor multiple control channel candidates in one or more aggregation levelsarranged in a cascaded manner. An aggregation level for a controlchannel candidate may refer to a number of control channel resources(e.g., control channel elements (CCEs)) associated with encodedinformation for a control information format having a given payloadsize. Search space sets may include common search space sets configuredfor sending control information to multiple UEs 115 and UE-specificsearch space sets for sending control information to a specific UE 115.

In some examples, a base station 105 may be movable and thereforeprovide communication coverage for a moving geographic coverage area110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas 110associated with different technologies may overlap, but the differentgeographic coverage areas 110 may be supported by the same base station105. In other examples, the overlapping geographic coverage areas 110associated with different technologies may be supported by differentbase stations 105. The wireless communications system 100 may include,for example, a heterogeneous network in which different types of thebase stations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas110 using the same or different radio access technologies.

Some UEs 115, such as MTC or IoT devices, may be low cost or lowcomplexity devices and may provide for automated communication betweenmachines (e.g., via Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication). M2Mcommunication or MTC may refer to data communication technologies thatallow devices to communicate with one another or a base station 105without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTCmay include communications from devices that integrate sensors or metersto measure or capture information and relay such information to acentral server or application program that makes use of the informationor presents the information to humans interacting with the applicationprogram. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collect information or enableautomated behavior of machines or other devices. Examples ofapplications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventorymonitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcaremonitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological eventmonitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing,physical access control, and transaction-based business charging.

Some UEs 115 may be configured to employ operating modes that reducepower consumption, such as half-duplex communications (e.g., a mode thatsupports one-way communication via transmission or reception, but nottransmission and reception simultaneously). In some examples,half-duplex communications may be performed at a reduced peak rate.Other power conservation techniques for the UEs 115 include entering apower saving deep sleep mode when not engaging in active communications,operating over a limited bandwidth (e.g., according to narrowbandcommunications), or a combination of these techniques. For example, someUEs 115 may be configured for operation using a narrowband protocol typethat is associated with a defined portion or range (e.g., set ofsubcarriers or RBs) within a carrier, within a guard-band of a carrier,or outside of a carrier.

The wireless communications system 100 may be configured to supportultra-reliable communications or low-latency communications, or variouscombinations thereof. For example, the wireless communications system100 may be configured to support ultra-reliable low-latencycommunications (URLLC) or mission critical communications. The UEs 115may be designed to support ultra-reliable, low-latency, or criticalfunctions (e.g., mission critical functions). Ultra-reliablecommunications may include private communication or group communicationand may be supported by one or more mission critical services such asmission critical push-to-talk (MCPTT), mission critical video (MCVideo),or mission critical data (MCData). Support for mission criticalfunctions may include prioritization of services, and mission criticalservices may be used for public safety or general commercialapplications. The terms ultra-reliable, low-latency, mission critical,and ultra-reliable low-latency may be used interchangeably herein.

In some examples, a UE 115 may also be able to communicate directly withother UEs 115 over a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 135(e.g., using a peer-to-peer (P2P) or D2D protocol). One or more UEs 115utilizing D2D communications may be within the geographic coverage area110 of a base station 105. Other UEs 115 in such a group may be outsidethe geographic coverage area 110 of a base station 105 or be otherwiseunable to receive transmissions from a base station 105. In someexamples, groups of the UEs 115 communicating via D2D communications mayutilize a one-to-many (1:M) system in which each UE 115 transmits toevery other UE 115 in the group. In some examples, a base station 105facilitates the scheduling of resources for D2D communications. In othercases, D2D communications are carried out between the UEs 115 withoutthe involvement of a base station 105.

In some systems, the D2D communication link 135 may be an example of acommunication channel, such as a sidelink communication channel, betweenvehicles (e.g., UEs 115). In some examples, vehicles may communicateusing vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications, vehicle-to-vehicle(V2V) communications, or some combination of these. A vehicle may signalinformation related to traffic conditions, signal scheduling, weather,safety, emergencies, or any other information relevant to a V2X system.In some examples, vehicles in a V2X system may communicate with roadsideinfrastructure, such as roadside units, or with the network via one ormore network nodes (e.g., base stations 105) using vehicle-to-network(V2N) communications, or with both.

The core network 130 may provide user authentication, accessauthorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and otheraccess, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be anevolved packet core (EPC) or 5G core (5GC), which may include at leastone control plane entity that manages access and mobility (e.g., amobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility managementfunction (AMF)) and at least one user plane entity that routes packetsor interconnects to external networks (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), aPacket Data Network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user plane function(UPF)). The control plane entity may manage non-access stratum (NAS)functions such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management forthe UEs 115 served by the base stations 105 associated with the corenetwork 130. User IP packets may be transferred through the user planeentity, which may provide IP address allocation as well as otherfunctions. The user plane entity may be connected to the networkoperators IP services 150. The network operators IP services 150 mayinclude access to the Internet, Intranet(s), an IP Multimedia Subsystem(IMS), or a Packet-Switched Streaming Service.

Some of the network devices, such as a base station 105, may includesubcomponents such as an access network entity 140, which may be anexample of an access node controller (ANC). Each access network entity140 may communicate with the UEs 115 through one or more other accessnetwork transmission entities 145, which may be referred to as radioheads, smart radio heads, or transmission/reception points (TRPs). Eachaccess network transmission entity 145 may include one or more antennapanels. In some configurations, various functions of each access networkentity 140 or base station 105 may be distributed across various networkdevices (e.g., radio heads and ANCs) or consolidated into a singlenetwork device (e.g., a base station 105).

The wireless communications system 100 may operate using one or morefrequency bands, for example, in the range of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300gigahertz (GHz). Generally, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is known asthe ultra-high frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band because thewavelengths range from approximately one decimeter to one meter inlength. The UHF waves may be blocked or redirected by buildings andenvironmental features, but the waves may penetrate structuressufficiently for a macro cell to provide service to the UEs 115 locatedindoors. The transmission of UHF waves may be associated with smallerantennas and shorter ranges (e.g., less than 100 kilometers) compared totransmission using the smaller frequencies and longer waves of the highfrequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portion of the spectrumbelow 300 MHz.

The wireless communications system 100 may also operate in a super highfrequency (SHF) region using frequency bands from 3 GHz to 30 GHz, alsoknown as the centimeter band, or in an extremely high frequency (EHF)region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz), also known as themillimeter band. In some examples, the wireless communications system100 may support millimeter wave (mmW) communications between the UEs 115and the base stations 105, and EHF antennas of the respective devicesmay be smaller and more closely spaced than UHF antennas. In someexamples, this may facilitate use of antenna arrays within a device. Thepropagation of EHF transmissions, however, may be subject to evengreater atmospheric attenuation and shorter range than SHF or UHFtransmissions. The techniques disclosed herein may be employed acrosstransmissions that use one or more different frequency regions, anddesignated use of bands across these frequency regions may differ bycountry or regulating body.

The wireless communications system 100 may utilize both licensed andunlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example, the wirelesscommunications system 100 may employ License Assisted Access (LAA),LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technology in anunlicensed band such as the 5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical(ISM) band. When operating in unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands,devices such as the base stations 105 and the UEs 115 may employ carriersensing for collision detection and avoidance. In some examples,operations in unlicensed bands may be based on a carrier aggregationconfiguration in conjunction with component carriers operating in alicensed band (e.g., LAA). Operations in unlicensed spectrum may includedownlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, P2P transmissions, or D2Dtransmissions, among other examples.

A base station 105 or a UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas,which may be used to employ techniques such as transmit diversity,receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications,or beamforming. The antennas of a base station 105 or a UE 115 may belocated within one or more antenna arrays or antenna panels, which maysupport MIMO operations or transmit or receive beamforming. For example,one or more base station antennas or antenna arrays may be co-located atan antenna assembly, such as an antenna tower. In some examples,antennas or antenna arrays associated with a base station 105 may belocated in diverse geographic locations. A base station 105 may have anantenna array with a number of rows and columns of antenna ports thatthe base station 105 may use to support beamforming of communicationswith a UE 115. Likewise, a UE 115 may have one or more antenna arraysthat may support various MIMO or beamforming operations. Additionally oralternatively, an antenna panel may support radio frequency beamformingfor a signal transmitted via an antenna port.

Beamforming, which may also be referred to as spatial filtering,directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signalprocessing technique that may be used at a transmitting device or areceiving device (e.g., a base station 105, a UE 115) to shape or steeran antenna beam (e.g., a transmit beam, a receive beam) along a spatialpath between the transmitting device and the receiving device.Beamforming may be achieved by combining the signals communicated viaantenna elements of an antenna array such that some signals propagatingat particular orientations with respect to an antenna array experienceconstructive interference while others experience destructiveinterference. The adjustment of signals communicated via the antennaelements may include a transmitting device or a receiving deviceapplying amplitude offsets, phase offsets, or both to signals carriedvia the antenna elements associated with the device. The adjustmentsassociated with each of the antenna elements may be defined by abeamforming weight set associated with a particular orientation (e.g.,with respect to the antenna array of the transmitting device orreceiving device, or with respect to some other orientation).

A base station 105 may transmit one or more synchronization signalblocks (SSBs) to a UE 115, and the UE 115 may process (e.g., decode) theSSBs in order to obtain system information and begin communications withthe base station. An SSB (e.g., a synchronization block) may includesynchronization signals such as a primary synchronization signal (PSS),a physical broadcast channel (PBCH), and a secondary synchronizationsignal (SSS), which may be referred to as acquisition signals and may betransmitted from the base station 105 to the UE 115. The PSS, PBCH, andSSS may each occupy different sets of symbols (e.g., OFDM symbols) andsubcarriers of the SSB. A UE 115 may utilize SSBs to acquire downlinksynchronization information and system information (e.g., to establish acommunication channel with the base station 105). In some cases, somewireless communications system 100 may further utilize SSBs with beamsweeping for beam management purposes.

The UEs 115 and the base stations 105 may support retransmissions ofdata to increase the likelihood that data is received successfully.Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) feedback is one technique forincreasing the likelihood that data is received correctly over acommunication link 125. HARQ may include a combination of errordetection (e.g., using a cyclic redundancy check (CRC)), forward errorcorrection (FEC), and retransmission (e.g., automatic repeat request(ARQ)). HARQ may improve throughput at the media access control (MAC)layer in poor radio conditions (e.g., low signal-to-noise conditions).In some examples, a device may support same-slot HARQ feedback, wherethe device may provide HARQ feedback in a specific slot for datareceived in a previous symbol in the slot. In other cases, the devicemay provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent slot, or according to someother time interval.

Wireless communications system 100 may support reduced capability UEs115, which may also be referred to as low tier UEs 115, NR-Light UEs115, etc. A reduced capability UE may operate with one or more of areduced transmit power, a reduced number of transmit and/or receiveantennas, a reduced transmit/receive bandwidth, or reduced computationalcomplexity. For example, a reduced capability UE 115 may be a smartwearable device (e.g., a heartbeat monitor), an industrial sensor (e.g.,a pressure sensor), a video surveillance device, etc. In some cases,reduced capability UEs 115 may be associated with a reduced number of UEreceive/transmit antennas, UE bandwidth reduction, half-duplex-FDD,relaxed UE processing time, relaxed UE processing capability, etc. Assuch, wireless communications system 100 may support UE power saving andbattery lifetime enhancement for reduce capability UEs 115 in applicableuse cases (e.g., in delay tolerant use cases). For example, wirelesscommunications system 100 may support techniques such as reducedphysical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring by smaller numbersof blink decodes and control channel element (CCE) limits, extendeddiscontinuous reception (DRX) for radio resource control (RRC) Inactiveand/or Idle, radio resource management (RRM) relaxation for stationarydevices, etc.

Wireless communications system 100 may implement (e.g., support andconfigure) NBWPs to reduce BWP bandwidth and support complexity (e.g.,bandwidth) reduction features for reduced capability UEs 115. Accordingto the described techniques, reduced capability UEs 115 may thus reducepower consumption and conserve computational resources by reducing itsoperating bandwidth (e.g., of monitoring otherwise wider bandwidth BWPssuch as, for example NR BWPs). For instance, in some cases, reducedcapability UEs 115 may monitor and utilize NBWPs based on reducedamounts of data to be transferred, less frequent data transfers, etc.,and thus may reduce bandwidth and power consumption duringcommunications with a base station 105.

For example, a NBWP may share similar parameters with a BWP (e.g., suchas an NR BWP) and may be established over a reduced bandwidth to supportUEs 115 with reduced complexity features (e.g., such as UEs 115 withreduced bandwidth capabilities). The techniques described herein mayprovide for network (e.g., base station 105) control of NBWPs (e.g.,network activation of NBWPs or network deactivation of NBWPs), as wellas for UE 115 utilization of NBWPs. For example, a network (e.g., a basestation 105) may activate NBWPs for one or more UEs 115. When a NBWP isactive for a given UE 115, the UE 115 may utilize the NBWP (e.g., the UE115 may monitor the NBWP for reference signals or utilize the NBWP foruplink/downlink communications) to support reduced bandwidthcapabilities of the UE 115.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a wireless communications system 200that supports NBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples,wireless communications system 200 may implement aspects of wirelesscommunications system 100. Wireless communications system 200 mayinclude base station 105-a, UE 115-a, and UE 115-b, which may beexamples of a base station 105 and UEs 115, respectively, as describedwith reference to FIG. 1. Base station 105-a and UE 115-b (e.g., areduced capability UE 115) may be configured to use NBWPs 210 inaccordance with the techniques described herein.

In some examples, base station 105-a may be an NR base stationcommunicating via a link (e.g., such as BWP 205 and/or NBWP 210) with UE115-a and UE 115-b within coverage area 110-a. For instance, connectionsmay be established using a relatively wide channel frequency bandwidth.In some cases, one or more portions of the channel frequency bandwidth,such as BWPs 205 and/or NBWPs 210, may be used for communications withUEs 115. In the example of FIG. 2, a channel frequency bandwidth or acarrier bandwidth may include portions (e.g., BWPs 205) used forcommunications with UE 115-a and UE 115-b. Further, according totechniques described herein, a channel frequency bandwidth or a carrierbandwidth may include narrow portions (e.g., NBWPs 210) used forcommunications with UE 115-b (e.g., which may be an example of a reducedcapability UE 115). BWPs 205 and NBWPs 210 may be associated with a samecarrier bandwidth or may be associated with different carrier bandwidths(e.g., in some cases, communications by UE 115-a and UE 115-b may beassociated with a same carrier bandwidth or with different carrierbandwidths).

For example, a first type of UE, such as a reduced capability UE 115-b(e.g., a low tier UE 115-b or an NR-Light UE 115-b) may include lower orreduced UE capabilities compared to a second type of UE, such as ageneric UE 115-a (e.g., a full capability UE 115-a or a premium UE115-a). As discussed herein, NBWPs 210 may reduce bandwidth (e.g.,compared to BWPs 205) and support functionality for reduced capabilityUEs such as reduced capability UE 115-b. NBWPs 210 may provide forreduced bandwidth and lower computational complexity (e.g., and reducedpower consumption) for a reduced capability UE 115-b, as reducedcapability UE 115-b may be configured with a NBWP 210 and may not beconfigured to continuously monitor, decode, etc. the larger spanningbandwidth associated with BWPs 205. Further, utilization of such NBWPs210 may, in some cases, support narrower beams for enhanced coverage.

Wireless communications system 200 may support such reduced capabilitydevices, which may enable less complex design, cheaper manufacturing,etc. suitable for some applications (e.g., such as wearable deviceapplications, video surveillance applications, or industrial sensorapplications). For instance, some UEs (e.g., UE 115-b) may be designedfor applications associated with relatively infrequent data transfers,relatively reduced data throughput requirements, etc. (e.g., compared toother wireless communication applications within the wirelesscommunications system 200). As an example, UE 115-b may include a videosurveillance device that may upload data (e.g., data recorded off-line)to a server relatively infrequently (e.g., such as once or twice a day).Utilization of NBWPs 210 within wireless communications system 200 mayallow reduced complexity devices, such as UE 115-b, to be designed withreduced bandwidth capabilities that may be suitable for suchapplications (e.g., and thus reduced complexity devices may be designedmore cost effectively, more computationally efficient, etc. for variousapplications within wireless communications system 200).

In some examples, NBWPs 210 may share similar parameters (e.g., protocolfeatures, numerologies, or modulation schemes) with BWPs 205 (e.g., suchas NR BWPs 205) so as to minimize physical layer disruptions withinwireless communications system 200 (e.g., as reduced capability UE 115-bmay operate on the same grid as other full capability UEs 115 such as UE115-a). In other examples, NBWPs 210 may be associated with differentparameters than BWPs 205. The NBWPs 210 may be of smaller (e.g., less)bandwidth than BWPs 205 and may include smaller (e.g., less) referencesignal bandwidth (e.g., or SSB bandwidth). For instance, in the exampleof FIG. 2, base station 105-a may transmit an SSB 215 to UE 115-a and/orUE 115-b via BWP 205. The SSB 215 (e.g., and BWP 205) may include orspan 20 RBs in the frequency domain. Further, in other scenarios, basestation 105-a may transmit a transmission 220 (e.g., a reduced bandwidthsynchronization signal (SS) or a reduced bandwidth physical downlinkshared channel (PDSCH) transmission) to UE 115-b via NBWP 210. Thetransmission 220 (e.g., and the NBWP 210) may include or span, forexample, 12 RBs in the frequency domain. In some systems, BWPs 205configurable within a carrier bandwidth may be limited (e.g., to fourBWPs 205 per carrier bandwidth).

The example configuration (e.g., frequency domain aspects or time domainaspects) of BWP 205 and NBWP 210 are illustrated for descriptivepurposes and are not intended to be limiting in regard to the scope ofthe present disclosure. BWPs 205 and NBWPs 210 may be configured withvarying bandwidths (e.g., may include signals of varying RBs spanningthe frequency domain), may include various other signals ortransmissions, may be configured for more or less UEs 115, may beconfigured in greater numbers, etc., by analogy, without departing fromthe scope of the present disclosure.

Wireless communications system 200 (e.g., base station 105-a) maycontrol and configure NBWPs 210 (e.g., network activation of NBWPs,network deactivation of NBWPs, etc.), as well as UE 115 utilization ofNBWPs 210, according to the techniques described herein. For example,base station 105-a may activate NBWPs 210 for one or more UEs 115 (e.g.,such as reduced capability UE 115-b). When a NBWP 210 is active for agiven UE 115, the UE 115 may utilize the NBWP to support reducedbandwidth capabilities of the UE 115. As used herein, a UE 115 using anactive NBWP 210 may generally refer to a UE 115 monitor the NBWP 210 fortransmissions 220 (e.g., for reduced bandwidth SSs), to a UE 115utilizing the NBWP 210 for transmissions 220 (e.g., for uplink/downlinkcommunications), etc. For example, UE 115-b may use an active NBWP 210to monitor for and/or receive reduced bandwidth reference signals,reduced bandwidth SSs, reduced bandwidth SSBs, reduced bandwidth PDSCHtransmissions, etc. Further, UE 115-b may use an active NBWP 210 totransmit reduced bandwidth physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH)transmissions, reduced bandwidth physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)transmissions, etc.

For instance, as discussed herein, reduced capability UEs 115 (e.g., UE115-b) may operate on the same grid (e.g., same radio frequency spectrumresources or time resources) as other generic or full capability UEs 115(e.g., such as UE 115-a) within the wireless communications system 200.As such, reduced capability UE 115 utilization of NBWPs 210 (e.g., forreduced bandwidth SSBs, reduced bandwidth SS, and any other channels)may reduce the number of resource elements (REs) available or usable forother generic or full capability UEs 115 within the wirelesscommunications system 200. Therefore, it may be efficient to effectivelyconfigure and manage configuration and employment of NBWPs 210 (e.g., asto control or manage the impact on other communications within thewireless communications system 200).

For example, in some cases, some reduced capability UEs 115 (e.g., UE115-b) may have limited usage of the wireless communications system 200.For instance, in some examples, UE 115-b may include a videosurveillance device that may upload data (e.g., data recorded off-line)to a server relatively infrequently (e.g., such as every X minutes). Assuch, it may be inefficient for NBWPs 210 to be continuously set for UE115-b in such an example. According to the techniques described herein,wireless communications system may efficiently configure (e.g., basestation 105-b may efficiently set resources of) NBWPs 210 to manage howlong in time reduced capability NBWPs 210 (e.g., including any reducedbandwidth SSBs or reduced bandwidth SSs) will last in time.

According to some aspects, wireless communications system 200 may employload balancing techniques for configuration of NBWPs 210. For example,base station 105-a may activate and deactivate NBWPs 210 based on anumber of reduced capability UEs 115, a number of generic or fullcapability UEs 115, a data priority or service type associated with oneor more reduced capability UEs 115, a data priority or service typeassociated with one or more generic or full capability UEs 115, etc. Asan example, in cases where there are many reduced capability UEs 115(e.g., such as in an industrial sensor application), a NBWP 210 may beactivated relatively more frequently, may be associated with arelatively longer active time interval, etc. Alternatively, in caseswhere there are relatively few reduced capability UEs 115 or where oneor more reduced capability UEs 115 leave the cell, a NBWP 210 may beactivated relatively less frequently, may be associated with arelatively shorter active time interval, etc.

Additionally, wireless communications may configure NBWPs 210 based ontypes of connected reduced capability UEs 115 and/or applications ofconnected reduced capability UEs 115. For instance, NBWPs 210 may beactivated or deactivated in accordance with services provided. In theexample where UE 115-b may include a video surveillance device that mayupload data every X minutes, base station 105-a may activate a NBWP 210for the UE 115-b such that the NBWP 210 may be active every X minutes,but may otherwise be deactivated. As another example, in some cases areduced capability UE 115-b may be associated with infrequent, but highpriority data communications (e.g., such as examples where UE 115-b mayrepresent a heartbeat monitor, a pressure sensor, etc.). In such casesone or more NBWPs 210 may be activated more frequently, for longerdurations, etc.

Wireless communications system 200 may support (e.g., base station 105-amay configure) periodic NBWPs 210, aperiodic NBWPs 210, semi-persistentNBWP configuration, on-demand NBWPs 210, timer-based NBWPs 210, and anycombination thereof. For periodic (e.g., in time) NBWPs 210, wirelesscommunications system 200 may set periodicity and a start time for oneor more NBWPs 210 (e.g., in a system information block (SIB) ordedicated RRC signaling). For example, a periodic NBWP 210 may beassociated with some preconfigured active time interval, and basestation 105-a may configure periodic NBWPs 210 via indication of aperiodicity and a start time in SIB or RRC messaging. For aperiodicNBWPs 210, wireless communications system 200 may activate one or moreNBWPs 210 for some signaled active time interval (e.g., base station105-a may configure aperiodic NBWPs 210 via indication of a start timeand active time interval in downlink control information (DCI), RRCsignaling, or medium access control (MAC) control element (MAC CE)).

Additionally or alternatively, wireless communications system 200 maysupport on-demand NBWPs 210. For example, a UE 115-b may send a NBWPactivation request (e.g., when no NBWP 210 is active, but the reducedcapability UE 115-b would like to utilize the network). In such cases,base station 105-a may respond with either an activation indication(e.g., activating the requested on-demand NBWP 210), respond with adenial, or not respond at all (e.g., which implicitly indicate a denialor which may prompt the UE 115-b to retransmit the NBWP activationrequest).

In some cases, wireless communications system 200 may employ timer-baseddeactivation of NBWPs 210. For example, if the network (e.g., wirelesscommunications system 200) detects inactivity on a NBWP 210 for sometime, the network may choose to deactivate it (e.g., using DCI, RRC, orMAC CE).

Generally, various aspects of the techniques described herein may becombined for other possible NBWP 210 configurations. For instance, insome cases, on-demand NBWPs 210 may be associated with timer-baseddeactivation. In other cases, on-demand NBWPs 210 may be active until anexplicit (e.g., semi-persistent) deactivation indication is sent by basestation 105-a. In some cases, wireless communications system 200 maypreconfigure a timer (e.g., a timer for timer-based deactivation) forperiodically activated NBWPs 210, aperiodically activated NBWPs 210,semi-persistently activated NBWPs 210, on-demand activated NBWPs 210,etc. In some cases, such timers (e.g., timer durations) may be differentfor differently configured (e.g., activated) NBWPs, there may be asingle timer (e.g., single timer duration) for all NBWPs 210.Additionally, wireless communications system 200 may supportcombinations of NBWPs configured differently (e.g., wirelesscommunications system 200 may support, as an example, periodic NBWPs inaddition to on-demand NBWPs).

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a NBWP configuration diagram 300 thatsupports NBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. In some examples,NBWP configuration diagram 300 may implement aspects of wirelesscommunications system 100 and/or wireless communications system 200. Forinstance, example NBWP configuration diagram 300 may illustrate aspectsof NBWP configuration by a base station 105 and potential use of activeNBWPs by one or more UEs 115 in accordance with the techniques describedherein.

For instance, NBWP configuration diagram 300 may illustrate an exampleconfiguration of periodic NBWP. In the example, three NBWPs (NBWP 1,NBWP 2, and NBWP 3) may be activated and deactivated as shown. NBWP 1,NBWP 2, and NBWP 3 may be portions of the carrier bandwidth, and may beactivated and deactivated across time in accordance with the techniquesdescribed herein. As discussed herein, periodic NBWPs may be configuredvia SIB, RRC signaling, etc. In the present example, periodic NBWP 1 maybe associated with a higher periodicity compared to periodic NBWP 2.Further, periodic NBWP 2 may be configured with a longer active timeinterval 305 compared to periodic NBWPs 1 and 3 (e.g., such thatperiodic NBWP 2 may be used for a longer duration by reduced capabilityUEs compared to periodic NBWPs 1 and 3). Further, periodic NBWP 1,periodic NBWP 2, and periodic NBWP 3 may each be configured withdifferent start times 310. Example NBWP configuration diagram 300 isshown for illustrative purposes only and is not intended to be limitingin terms of the scope of the present disclosure. NBWP configurationswith differently activated periodic NBWPs, additionally activatedaperiodic NBWPs, additionally activated semi-periodic NBWPs,additionally activated on-demand NBWPs, etc. may be implemented usingthe techniques described herein by analogy, without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a process flow 400 that supports NBWPtime utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, process flow 400may implement aspects of wireless communications system 100, wirelesscommunications system 200, and/or NBWP configuration diagram 300.Further, process flow 400 may be implemented by a UE 115-c and a basestation 105-b, which may be examples of a UE 115 and a base station 105described with reference to FIGS. 1-3. In some cases, UE 115-c may be anexample of a reduced capability UE. In the following description of theprocess flow 400, the operations between UE 115-c and base station 105-bmay be transmitted in a different order than the order shown, or theoperations performed by base station 105-b and UE 115-c may be performedin different orders or at different times. Some operations may also beleft out of the process flow 400, or other operations may be added tothe process flow 400. It is to be understood that while base station105-b and UE 115-c are shown performing a number of the operations ofprocess flow 400, any wireless device may perform the operations shown.

At 405, in some cases (e.g., for on-demand NBWP activation), UE 115-cmay transmit a NBWP activation request to base station 105-b.

At 410, base station 105-b may transmit an activation indication to UE115-c. As discussed herein, base station 105-b may transmit one or moreactivation indications for periodic NBWP configuration, aperiodic NBWPconfiguration, semi-persistent NBWP configuration, etc. For example, insome cases, base station 105-b may transmit the activation indication toUE 115-c based on the NBWP activation request received from UE 115-c at405. In other examples, the activation indication may refer to anindication in SIB or an indication in RRC signaling for configuringperiodic NBWP activation. In other examples, the activation indicationmay refer to an indication in DCI, RRC signaling, or a MAC CE forsemi-persistent NBWP activation.

At 415, UE 115-c may determine an active time interval for a subset ofphysical RBs (PRBs) (e.g., a NBWP) used for wireless communications(e.g., an active time interval for the NBWP associated with theactivation indication received at 410. For example, in some cases, at410, UE 115-c may receive an indication of a periodicity and a starttime associated with the NBWP (e.g., in SIB or RRC for a periodic NBWP),and the active time interval for the NBWP may be determined based on thereceived indication. In some cases, UE 115-c may determine the activetime interval for the NBWP based on a timer duration preconfigured bythe network. In some cases, UE 115-c may determine the active timeinterval for the NBWP based on an explicit indication of the active timeinterval included in the NBWP activation indication received at 410. Insome cases, the UE 115-c may determine the active time interval for theNBWP based on how the NBWP was activated (e.g., based on whether theNBWP is periodic, aperiodic, semi-static, on-demand, etc.). Forinstance, in some cases at 415 (e.g., when the NBWP activationindication at 410 is for a semi-persistent NBWP activation), the UE115-c may determine the active time interval is indefinite or is until aNBWP deactivation indication is received from the base station 105-b. Insome examples, the UE 115-c may determine the active time interval basedon a control message from the base station 105-b configuring the UE115-c for the active time interval.

At 420, UE 115-c may utilize the NBWP based on the active time intervaldetermined at 415 (e.g., UE 115-c may utilize the NBWP during the activetime interval). For example, the UE 115-c may monitor the NBWP for SSsduring the active time interval. In other example, as discussed herein,the UE 115-c may utilize the NBWP for transmissions (e.g., foruplink/downlink communications), etc.

At 425, base station 105-b may transmit an SS to the UE 115-c via theNBWP.

At 430, in some cases, base station 105-b may transmit a NBWPdeactivation indication to the UE 115-c. For example, in some cases(e.g., for semi-persistent NBWP activation), base station 105-b maytransmit a NBWP activation indication at 410, and the NBWP may be activeuntil the base station 105-b transmits the NBWP deactivation indicationat 430 (e.g., and thus the UE 115-c may determine the active timeinterval is indefinite or is until the base station 105-b transmits theNBWP deactivation indication). Alternatively, the NBWP may be associatedwith an active time interval (e.g., based on some periodicity, based onan explicit indication from base station 105-b, based on timer durationspreconfigured by the network, etc., in which case base station 105-b maynot transmit a NBWP deactivation indication at 430. In some examples,the base station 105-b may refrain from communicating with the UE 115-cover the NBWP and determine to transmit the deactivation indicationbased on refraining from communicating with the UE 115-c.

At 435, UE 115-c may determine to deactivate the NBWP for the UE basedon the determined active time interval. As discussed above, in somecases the UE 115-c may determine to deactivate the NBWP based on thedeactivation indication received at 430. In other cases, the UE 115-cmay determine an active time interval at 415 based on the NBWPactivation indication received at 410, based on one or more timerdurations preconfigured by the network, based on the type of NBWPconfigured (e.g., based on whether the NBWP is periodic, aperiodic,semi-static, on-demand, etc.), etc. In some examples, the UE 115-c maydetermine to deactivate the NBWP for the UE for a first period time,where the first time period may be based on one or more timerspreconfigured by the network or the first period time may be based on aNBWP activation indication received from the base station 105-b.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of an architecture 500 that supports NBWPtime utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. In some examples, architecture 500may implement aspects of wireless communications systems 100, wirelesscommunications system 200, NBWP configuration diagram 300, and/orprocess flow 400. In some aspects, architecture 500 may be an example ofa transmitting device (e.g., which may be a base station 105 or a UE115) and/or a receiving device (e.g., which may also be a base station105 or a UE 115) as described herein.

Broadly, FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating example hardware components ofa wireless device in accordance with some aspects of the disclosure. Theillustrated components may include those that may be used for antennaelement selection and/or for beamforming for transmission of wirelesssignals. There are numerous architectures for antenna element selectionand implementing phase shifting, one example of which is illustratedhere. The architecture 500 includes a modem (modulator/demodulator) 502,a digital to analog converter (DAC) 504, a first mixer 506, a secondmixer 508, and a splitter 510. The architecture 500 also includes a setof first amplifiers 512, a set of phase shifters 514, a set of secondamplifiers 516, and an antenna array 518 that includes a set of antennaelements 520. Transmission lines or other waveguides, wires, traces, orthe like are shown connecting the various components to illustrate howsignals to be transmitted may travel between components. Boxes 522, 524,526, and 528 indicate regions in the architecture 500 in which differenttypes of signals travel or are processed. Specifically, box 522indicates a region in which digital baseband signals travel or areprocessed, box 524 indicates a region in which analog baseband signalstravel or are processed, box 526 indicates a region in which analogintermediate frequency (IF) signals travel or are processed, and box 528indicates a region in which analog radio frequency (RF) signals travelor are processed. The architecture also includes a local oscillator A530, a local oscillator B 532, and a communications manager 534.

Each of the antenna elements 520 may include one or more sub-elements(not shown) for radiating or receiving RF signals. For example, a singleantenna element 520 may include a first sub-element cross-polarized witha second sub-element that can be used to independently transmitcross-polarized signals. The antenna elements 520 may include patchantennas or other types of antennas arranged in a linear, twodimensional, or other pattern. A spacing between antenna elements 520may be such that signals with a desired wavelength transmittedseparately by the antenna elements 520 may interact or interfere (e.g.,to form a desired beam). For example, given an expected range ofwavelengths or frequencies, the spacing may provide a quarterwavelength, half wavelength, or other fraction of a wavelength ofspacing between neighboring antenna elements 520 to allow forinteraction or interference of signals transmitted by the separateantenna elements 520 within that expected range.

The modem 502 processes and generates digital baseband signals and mayalso control operation of the DAC 504, first and second mixers 506, 508,splitter 510, first amplifiers 512, phase shifters 514, and/or thesecond amplifiers 516 to transmit signals via one or more or all of theantenna elements 520. The modem 502 may process signals and controloperation in accordance with a communication standard such as a wirelessstandard discussed herein. The DAC 504 may convert digital basebandsignals received from the modem 502 (and that are to be transmitted)into analog baseband signals. The first mixer 506 upconverts analogbaseband signals to analog IF signals within an IF using a localoscillator A 530. For example, the first mixer 506 may mix the signalswith an oscillating signal generated by the local oscillator A 530 to“move” the baseband analog signals to the IF. In some cases, someprocessing or filtering (not shown) may take place at the IF. The secondmixer 508 upconverts the analog IF signals to analog RF signals usingthe local oscillator B 532. Similarly to the first mixer, the secondmixer 508 may mix the signals with an oscillating signal generated bythe local oscillator B 532 to “move” the IF analog signals to the RF, orthe frequency at which signals will be transmitted or received. Themodem 502 and/or the communications manager 534 may adjust the frequencyof local oscillator A 530 and/or the local oscillator B 532 so that adesired IF and/or RF frequency is produced and used to facilitateprocessing and transmission of a signal within a desired bandwidth.

In the illustrated architecture 500, signals upconverted by the secondmixer 508 are split or duplicated into multiple signals by the splitter510. The splitter 510 in architecture 500 splits the RF signal into aset of identical or nearly identical RF signals, as denoted by itspresence in box 528. In other examples, the split may take place withany type of signal including with baseband digital, baseband analog, orIF analog signals. Each of these signals may correspond to an antennaelement 520 and the signal travels through and is processed byamplifiers 512, 516, phase shifters 514, and/or other elementscorresponding to the respective antenna element 520 to be provided toand transmitted by the corresponding antenna element 520 of the antennaarray 518. In one example, the splitter 510 may be an active splitterthat is connected to a power supply and provides some gain so that RFsignals exiting the splitter 510 are at a power level equal to orgreater than the signal entering the splitter 510. In another example,the splitter 510 is a passive splitter that is not connected to powersupply and the RF signals exiting the splitter 510 may be at a powerlevel lower than the RF signal entering the splitter 510.

After being split by the splitter 510, the resulting RF signals mayenter an amplifier, such as a first amplifier 512, or a phase shifter514 corresponding to an antenna element 520. The first and secondamplifiers 512, 516 are illustrated with dashed lines because one orboth of them might not be necessary in some implementations. In oneimplementation, both the first amplifier 512 and second amplifier 516are present. In another, neither the first amplifier 512 nor the secondamplifier 516 is present. In other implementations, one of the twoamplifiers 512, 516 is present but not the other. By way of example, ifthe splitter 510 is an active splitter, the first amplifier 512 may notbe used. By way of further example, if the phase shifter 514 is anactive phase shifter that can provide a gain, the second amplifier 516might not be used. The amplifiers 512, 516 may provide a desired levelof positive or negative gain. A positive gain (positive dB) may be usedto increase an amplitude of a signal for radiation by a specific antennaelement 520. A negative gain (negative dB) may be used to decrease anamplitude and/or suppress radiation of the signal by a specific antennaelement. Each of the amplifiers 512, 516 may be controlled independently(e.g., by the modem 502 or communications manager 534) to provideindependent control of the gain for each antenna element 520. Forexample, the modem 502 and/or the communications manager 534 may have atleast one control line connected to each of the splitter 510, firstamplifiers 512, phase shifters 514, and/or second amplifiers 516 whichmay be used to configure a gain to provide a desired amount of gain foreach component and thus each antenna element 520.

The phase shifter 514 may provide a configurable phase shift or phaseoffset to a corresponding RF signal to be transmitted. The phase shifter514 could be a passive phase shifter not directly connected to a powersupply. Passive phase shifters might introduce some insertion loss. Thesecond amplifier 516 could boost the signal to compensate for theinsertion loss. The phase shifter 514 could be an active phase shifterconnected to a power supply such that the active phase shifter providessome amount of gain or prevents insertion loss. The settings of each ofthe phase shifters 514 are independent meaning that each can be set toprovide a desired amount of phase shift or the same amount of phaseshift or some other configuration. The modem 502 and/or thecommunications manager 534 may have at least one control line connectedto each of the phase shifters 514 and which may be used to configure thephase shifters 514 to provide a desired amounts of phase shift or phaseoffset between antenna elements 520.

In the illustrated architecture 500, RF signals received by the antennaelements 520 are provided to one or more of first amplifier 556 to boostthe signal strength. The first amplifier 556 may be connected to thesame antenna arrays 515, e.g., for TDD operations. The first amplifier556 may be connected to different antenna arrays 515. The boosted RFsignal is input into one or more of phase shifter 554 to provide aconfigurable phase shift or phase offset for the corresponding receivedRF signal. The phase shifter 554 may be an active phase shifter or apassive phase shifter. The settings of the phase shifters 554 areindependent, meaning that each can be set to provide a desired amount ofphase shift or the same amount of phase shift or some otherconfiguration. The modem 502 and/or the communications manager 534 mayhave at least one control line connected to each of the phase shifters554 and which may be used to configure the phase shifters 554 to providea desired amount of phase shift or phase offset between antenna elements520.

The outputs of the phase shifters 554 may be input to one or more secondamplifiers 552 for signal amplification of the phase shifted received RFsignals. The second amplifiers 552 may be individually configured toprovide a configured amount of gain. The second amplifiers 552 may beindividually configured to provide an amount of gain to ensure that thesignal input to combiner 550 have the same magnitude. The amplifiers 552and/or 556 are illustrated in dashed lines because they might not benecessary in some implementations. In one implementation, both theamplifier 552 and the amplifier 556 are present. In another, neither theamplifier 552 nor the amplifier 556 are present. In otherimplementations, one of the amplifiers 552, 556 is present but not theother.

In the illustrated architecture 500, signals output by the phaseshifters 554 (via the amplifiers 552 when present) are combined incombiner 550. The combiner 550 in architecture combines the RF signalinto a signal, as denoted by its presence in box 525. The combiner 550may be a passive combiner, e.g., not connected to a power source, whichmay result in some insertion loss. The combiner 550 may be an activecombiner, e.g., connected to a power source, which may result in somesignal gain. When combiner 550 is an active combiner, it may provide adifferent (e.g., configurable) amount of gain for each input signal sothat the input signals have the same magnitude when they are combined.When combiner 550 is an active combiner, it may not need the secondamplifier 552 because the active combiner may provide the signalamplification.

The output of the combiner 550 is input into mixers 548 and 546. Mixers548 and 546 generally down convert the received RF signal using inputsfrom local oscillators 572 and 570, respectively, to create intermediateor baseband signals that carry the encoded and modulated information.The output of the mixers 548 and 546 are input into an analog-to-digitalconverter (ADC) 544 for conversion to analog signals. The analog signalsoutput from ADC 544 is input to modem 502 for baseband processing, e.g.,decoding, de-interleaving, etc.

The architecture 500 is given by way of example to illustrate anarchitecture for transmitting and/or receiving signals. It will beunderstood that the architecture 500 and/or each portion of thearchitecture 500 may be repeated multiple times within an architectureto accommodate or provide an arbitrary number of RF chains, antennaelements, and/or antenna panels. Furthermore, numerous alternatearchitectures are possible and contemplated. For example, although asingle antenna array 518 is shown, two, three, or more antenna arraysmay be included each with one or more of their own correspondingamplifiers, phase shifters, splitters, mixers, DACs, ADCs, and/ormodems. For example, a single UE may include two, four or more antennaarrays for transmitting or receiving signals at different physicallocations on the UE or in different directions.

Furthermore, mixers, splitters, amplifiers, phase shifters and othercomponents may be located in different signal type areas (e.g.,different ones of the boxes 522, 524, 526, 528) in different implementedarchitectures. For example, a split of the signal to be transmitted intoa set of signals may take place at the analog RF, analog IF, analogbaseband, or digital baseband frequencies in different examples.Similarly, amplification, and/or phase shifts may also take place atdifferent frequencies. For example, in some contemplatedimplementations, one or more of the splitter 510, amplifiers 512, 516,or phase shifters 514 may be located between the DAC 504 and the firstmixer 506 or between the first mixer 506 and the second mixer 508. Inone example, the functions of one or more of the components may becombined into one component. For example, the phase shifters 514 mayperform amplification to include or replace the first and/or or secondamplifiers 512, 516. By way of another example, a phase shift may beimplemented by the second mixer 508 to obviate the need for a separatephase shifter 514. This technique is sometimes called local oscillatorphase shifting. In one implementation of this configuration, there maybe a set of IF to RF mixers (e.g., for each antenna element chain)within the second mixer 508 and the local oscillator B 532 would supplydifferent local oscillator signals (with different phase offsets) toeach IF to RF mixer.

The modem 502 and/or the communications manager 534 may control one ormore of the other components 504-572 to select one or more antennaelements 520 and/or to form beams for transmission of one or moresignals. For example, the antenna elements 520 may be individuallyselected or deselected for transmission of a signal (or signals) bycontrolling an amplitude of one or more corresponding amplifiers, suchas the first amplifiers 512 and/or the second amplifiers 516.Beamforming includes generation of a beam using a set of signals ondifferent antenna elements where one or more or all of the set signalsare shifted in phase relative to each other. The formed beam may carryphysical or higher layer reference signals or information. As eachsignal of the set of signals is radiated from a respective antennaelement 520, the radiated signals interact, interfere (constructive anddestructive interference), and amplify each other to form a resultingbeam. The shape (such as the amplitude, width, and/or presence of sidelobes) and the direction (such as an angle of the beam relative to asurface of the antenna array 518) can be dynamically controlled bymodifying the phase shifts or phase offsets imparted by the phaseshifters 514 and amplitudes imparted by the amplifiers 512, 516 of theset of signals relative to each other.

The communications manager 534 may, when architecture 500 is configuredas a transmitting device, determine a spatial separation distancebetween at least two transmitting entities or at least two receivingentities, determine a rank associated with a beam direction based on thespatial separation distance for the at least two transmitting entitiesor the at least two receiving entities, and transmit at least twouncorrelated signals over the beam direction based on the rankassociated with the beam direction, as discussed herein. Thecommunications manager 534 may, when architecture 500 is configured as areceiving device, transmit an indication of a beam direction and a rankassociated with the beam direction and receive at least one signal overthe beam direction based on the rank associated with the beam direction.The communications manager 534 may, when architecture 500 is configuredas a receiving device, receive an indication of a beam direction and arank associated with the beam direction and receive at least twouncorrelated signals over the beam direction based on the rankassociated with the beam direction. The communications manager 534 maybe located partially or fully within one or more other components of thearchitecture 500. For example, the communications manager 534 may belocated within the modem 502 in at least one implementation.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram 600 of a device 605 that supports NBWP timeutilization for reduced capability devices in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. The device 605 may be an example of aspects of aUE 115 as described herein. The device 605 may include a receiver 610, acommunications manager 615, and a transmitter 620. The device 605 mayalso include a processor. Each of these components may be incommunication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

The receiver 610 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to NBWP timeutilization for reduced capability devices, etc.). Information may bepassed on to other components of the device 605. The receiver 610 may bean example of aspects of the transceiver 920 described with reference toFIG. 9. The receiver 610 may utilize a single antenna or a set ofantennas.

The communications manager 615 may receive a configuration for an activetime interval for a subset of PRBs used for wireless communications andrefrain from monitoring the subset of PRBs for the UE for a first timeperiod based on the configuration for the active time interval. Thecommunications manager 615 may be an example of aspects of thecommunications manager 910 described herein.

The communications manager 615, or its sub-components, may beimplemented in hardware, code (e.g., software or firmware) executed by aprocessor, or any combination thereof. If implemented in code executedby a processor, the functions of the communications manager 615, or itssub-components may be executed by a general-purpose processor, a DSP, anapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmablegate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate ortransistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combinationthereof designed to perform the functions described in the presentdisclosure.

The communications manager 615, or its sub-components, may be physicallylocated at various positions, including being distributed such thatportions of functions are implemented at different physical locations byone or more physical components. In some examples, the communicationsmanager 615, or its sub-components, may be a separate and distinctcomponent in accordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.In some examples, the communications manager 615, or its sub-components,may be combined with one or more other hardware components, includingbut not limited to an input/output (I/O) component, a transceiver, anetwork server, another computing device, one or more other componentsdescribed in the present disclosure, or a combination thereof inaccordance with various aspects of the present disclosure.

By including or configuring the communications manager 615 in accordancewith examples discussed herein, the device 605 (e.g., a processorcontrolling or otherwise coupled to the receiver 610, the transmitter620, the communications manager 615, or a combination thereof) maysupport techniques for reduced power consumption. For example, it may beefficient for reduced capability devices 605 to monitor or utilize aNBWP based on reduced amounts of data to be transferred, less frequentdata transfers, etc. Accordingly, reduced capability devices 605 mayreduce bandwidth and power consumption during communications with a basestation.

The transmitter 620 may transmit signals generated by other componentsof the device 605. In some examples, the transmitter 620 may becollocated with a receiver 610 in a transceiver module. For example, thetransmitter 620 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 920described with reference to FIG. 9. The transmitter 620 may utilize asingle antenna or a set of antennas.

FIG. 7 shows a block diagram 700 of a device 705 that supports NBWP timeutilization for reduced capability devices in accordance with aspects ofthe present disclosure. The device 705 may be an example of aspects of adevice 605, or a UE 115 as described herein. The device 705 may includea receiver 710, a communications manager 715, and a transmitter 730. Thedevice 705 may also include a processor. Each of these components may bein communication with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

The receiver 710 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to NBWP timeutilization for reduced capability devices, etc.). Information may bepassed on to other components of the device 705. The receiver 710 may bean example of aspects of the transceiver 920 described with reference toFIG. 9. The receiver 710 may utilize a single antenna or a set ofantennas.

The communications manager 715 may be an example of aspects of thecommunications manager 615 as described herein. The communicationsmanager 715 may include a NBWP manager 720. The communications manager715 may be an example of aspects of the communications manager 910described herein.

The NBWP manager 720 may receive a configuration for an active timeinterval for a subset of PRBs used for wireless communications andrefrain from monitoring the subset of PRBs for the UE for a first timeperiod based on the configuration for the active time interval.

The transmitter 730 may transmit signals generated by other componentsof the device 705. In some examples, the transmitter 730 may becollocated with a receiver 710 in a transceiver module. For example, thetransmitter 730 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver 920described with reference to FIG. 9. The transmitter 730 may utilize asingle antenna or a set of antennas.

FIG. 8 shows a block diagram 800 of a communications manager 805 thatsupports NBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The communicationsmanager 805 may be an example of aspects of a communications manager615, a communications manager 715, or a communications manager 910described herein. The communications manager 805 may include a NBWPmanager 810, an SS manager 815, a NBWP configuration manager 820, and aNBWP request manager 825. Each of these modules may communicate,directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

The NBWP manager 810 may receive a configuration for an active timeinterval for a subset of PRBs used for wireless communications. In someexamples, the NBWP manager 810 may refrain from monitoring the subset ofPRBs for the UE for a first time period based on the configuration forthe active time interval.

The SS manager 815 may monitor the subset of PRBs for a SS during thedetermined active time interval. In some examples, the SS manager 815may receive the SS based on the monitoring.

The NBWP configuration manager 820 may receive an indication of aperiodicity and a start time associated with the subset of PRBs, wherethe active time interval for the subset of PRBs is determined based onthe received indication. In some examples, the NBWP configurationmanager 820 may receive an activation indication for the subset of PRBsfor the UE, where the subset of PRBs are utilized based on the receivedactivation indication. In some examples, the NBWP configuration manager820 may receive a deactivation indication for the subset of PRBs, wherethe active time interval for the subset of PRBs is determined based onthe deactivation indication.

In some examples, the NBWP configuration manager 820 may receive anindication of the subset of PRBs and the active time interval, where thesubset of PRBs are utilized during the active time interval based on thereceived indication. In some cases, the indication of the periodicityand the start time associated with the subset of PRBs is received via aSIB or dedicated RRC signaling. In some cases, the activation indicationis received via DCI, RRC signaling, a MAC CE, or some combinationthereof. In some cases, the deactivation indication is received via DCI,RRC signaling, a MAC CE, or some combination thereof. In some cases, thedeactivation indication is received based on expiration of a networkinactivity timer. In some cases, the indication is received via DCI, RRCsignaling, a MAC CE, or some combination thereof.

The NBWP request manager 825 may transmit an activation request for thesubset of PRBs. In some examples, the NBWP request manager 825 mayreceive an activation indication for the subset of PRBs based on thetransmitted activation request, where the subset of PRBs are utilizedbased on the received activation indication.

FIG. 9 shows a diagram of a system 900 including a device 905 thatsupports NBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The device 905 may bean example of or include the components of device 605, device 705, or aUE 115 as described herein. The device 905 may include components forbi-directional voice and data communications including components fortransmitting and receiving communications, including a communicationsmanager 910, an I/O controller 915, a transceiver 920, an antenna 925,memory 930, and a processor 940. These components may be in electroniccommunication via one or more buses (e.g., bus 945).

The communications manager 910 may receive a configuration for an activetime interval for a subset of PRBs used for wireless communications andrefrain from monitoring the subset of PRBs for the UE for a first timeperiod based on the configuration for the active time interval.

The I/O controller 915 may manage input and output signals for thedevice 905. The I/O controller 915 may also manage peripherals notintegrated into the device 905. In some cases, the I/O controller 915may represent a physical connection or port to an external peripheral.In some cases, the I/O controller 915 may utilize an operating systemsuch as iOS®, ANDROID®, MS-DOS®, MS-WINDOWS®, OS/2®, UNIX®, LINUX®, oranother known operating system. In other cases, the I/O controller 915may represent or interact with a modem, a keyboard, a mouse, atouchscreen, or a similar device. In some cases, the I/O controller 915may be implemented as part of a processor. In some cases, a user mayinteract with the device 905 via the I/O controller 915 or via hardwarecomponents controlled by the I/O controller 915.

The transceiver 920 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas, wired, or wireless links as described above. For example, thetransceiver 920 may represent a wireless transceiver and may communicatebi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. The transceiver 920may also include a modem to modulate the packets and provide themodulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and to demodulatepackets received from the antennas.

In some cases, the wireless device may include a single antenna 925.However, in some cases the device may have more than one antenna 925,which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiplewireless transmissions.

The memory 930 may include random access memory (RAM) and read onlymemory (ROM). The memory 930 may store computer-readable,computer-executable code or software 935 including instructions that,when executed, cause the processor to perform various functionsdescribed herein. In some cases, the memory 930 may contain, among otherthings, a basic input/output system (BIOS) which may control basichardware or software operation such as the interaction with peripheralcomponents or devices.

The processor 940 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, anFPGA, a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logiccomponent, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof).In some cases, the processor 940 may be configured to operate a memoryarray using a memory controller. In other cases, a memory controller maybe integrated into the processor 940. The processor 940 may beconfigured to execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory(e.g., the memory 930) to cause the device 905 to perform variousfunctions (e.g., functions or tasks supporting NBWP time utilization forreduced capability devices).

The software 935 may include instructions to implement aspects of thepresent disclosure, including instructions to support wirelesscommunications. The software 935 may be stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium such as system memory or other type of memory.In some cases, the software 935 may not be directly executable by theprocessor 940 but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled andexecuted) to perform functions described herein.

FIG. 10 shows a block diagram 1000 of a device 1005 that supports NBWPtime utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The device 1005 may be an example ofaspects of a base station 105 as described herein. The device 1005 mayinclude a receiver 1010, a communications manager 1015, and atransmitter 1020. The device 1005 may also include a processor. Each ofthese components may be in communication with one another (e.g., via oneor more buses).

The receiver 1010 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to NBWP timeutilization for reduced capability devices, etc.). Information may bepassed on to other components of the device 1005. The receiver 1010 maybe an example of aspects of the transceiver 1320 described withreference to FIG. 13. The receiver 1010 may utilize a single antenna ora set of antennas.

The communications manager 1015 may transmit a configuration for anactive time interval for a subset of PRBs used for wirelesscommunications and refrain from communicating with a UE over the subsetof PRBs for a first time period based on the configuration for theactive time interval. The communications manager 1015 may be an exampleof aspects of the communications manager 1310 described herein.

The communications manager 1015, or its sub-components, may beimplemented in hardware, code (e.g., software or firmware) executed by aprocessor, or any combination thereof. If implemented in code executedby a processor, the functions of the communications manager 1015, or itssub-components may be executed by a general-purpose processor, a DSP, anapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a FPGA or otherprogrammable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discretehardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform thefunctions described in the present disclosure.

The communications manager 1015, or its sub-components, may bephysically located at various positions, including being distributedsuch that portions of functions are implemented at different physicallocations by one or more physical components. In some examples, thecommunications manager 1015, or its sub-components, may be a separateand distinct component in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure. In some examples, the communications manager 1015, or itssub-components, may be combined with one or more other hardwarecomponents, including but not limited to an input/output (I/O)component, a transceiver, a network server, another computing device,one or more other components described in the present disclosure, or acombination thereof in accordance with various aspects of the presentdisclosure.

The transmitter 1020 may transmit signals generated by other componentsof the device 1005. In some examples, the transmitter 1020 may becollocated with a receiver 1010 in a transceiver module. For example,the transmitter 1020 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver1320 described with reference to FIG. 13. The transmitter 1020 mayutilize a single antenna or a set of antennas.

FIG. 11 shows a block diagram 1100 of a device 1105 that supports NBWPtime utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The device 1105 may be an example ofaspects of a device 1005, or a base station 105 as described herein. Thedevice 1105 may include a receiver 1110, a communications manager 1115,and a transmitter 1130. The device 1105 may also include a processor.Each of these components may be in communication with one another (e.g.,via one or more buses).

The receiver 1110 may receive information such as packets, user data, orcontrol information associated with various information channels (e.g.,control channels, data channels, and information related to NBWP timeutilization for reduced capability devices, etc.). Information may bepassed on to other components of the device 1105. The receiver 1110 maybe an example of aspects of the transceiver 1320 described withreference to FIG. 13. The receiver 1110 may utilize a single antenna ora set of antennas.

The communications manager 1115 may be an example of aspects of thecommunications manager 1015 as described herein. The communicationsmanager 1115 may include a UE NBWP manager 1120. The communicationsmanager 1115 may be an example of aspects of the communications manager1310 described herein.

The UE NBWP manager 1120 may transmit a configuration for an active timeinterval for a subset of PRBs used for wireless communications andrefrain from communicating with a UE over the subset of PRBs for a firsttime period based on the configuration for the active time interval.

The transmitter 1130 may transmit signals generated by other componentsof the device 1105. In some examples, the transmitter 1130 may becollocated with a receiver 1110 in a transceiver module. For example,the transmitter 1130 may be an example of aspects of the transceiver1320 described with reference to FIG. 13. The transmitter 1130 mayutilize a single antenna or a set of antennas.

FIG. 12 shows a block diagram 1200 of a communications manager 1205 thatsupports NBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The communicationsmanager 1205 may be an example of aspects of a communications manager1015, a communications manager 1115, or a communications manager 1310described herein. The communications manager 1205 may include a UE NBWPmanager 1210, an SS manager 1215, a NBWP configuration manager 1220, anda NBWP request manager 1225. Each of these modules may communicate,directly or indirectly, with one another (e.g., via one or more buses).

The UE NBWP manager 1210 may transmit a configuration for an active timeinterval for a subset of PRBs used for wireless communications. In someexamples, the UE NBWP manager 1210 may refrain from communicating with aUE over the subset of PRBs for a first time period based on theconfiguration for the active time interval.

The SS manager 1215 may determine a SS for a UE. In some examples, theSS manager 1215 may transmit, during the active time interval, thesubset of PRBs including the SS to the UE.

The NBWP configuration manager 1220 may transmit an indication of aperiodicity and a start time associated with the subset of PRBs based onthe determined active time interval, where the subset of PRBs aretransmitted and refraining from communicating with the UE over thesubset of PRBs is based on the periodicity and the start time. In someexamples, the NBWP configuration manager 1220 may transmit an activationindication for the subset of PRBs, where the subset of PRBs aretransmitted based on the activation indication. In some examples, theNBWP configuration manager 1220 may transmit a deactivation indicationfor the subset of PRBs based on refraining from communicating with theUE over the subset of PRBs. In some examples, the NBWP configurationmanager 1220 may identify a network inactivity timer has expired, wherethe deactivation indication is transmitted based on expiration of thenetwork inactivity timer. In some examples, the NBWP configurationmanager 1220 may transmit an indication of the subset of PRBs and theactive time interval, where the subset of PRBs are transmitted duringthe active time interval based on the transmitted indication.

In some cases, the indication of the periodicity and the start timeassociated with the subset of PRBs is transmitted via a SIB or dedicatedRRC signaling. In some cases, the activation indication is transmittedvia DCI, RRC signaling, a MAC CE, or some combination thereof. In somecases, the deactivation indication is transmitted via DCI, RRCsignaling, a MAC CE, or some combination thereof. In some cases, theindication is transmitted via DCI, RRC signaling, a MAC CE, or somecombination thereof.

The NBWP request manager 1225 may receive an activation request for thesubset of PRBs from the UE. In some examples, the NBWP request manager1225 may transmit an activation indication for the subset of PRBs, wherethe subset of PRBs are transmitted based on the transmitted activationindication.

FIG. 13 shows a diagram of a system 1300 including a device 1305 thatsupports NBWP time utilization for reduced capability devices inaccordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The device 1305 maybe an example of or include the components of device 1005, device 1105,or a base station 105 as described herein. The device 1305 may includecomponents for bi-directional voice and data communications includingcomponents for transmitting and receiving communications, including acommunications manager 1310, a network communications manager 1315, atransceiver 1320, an antenna 1325, memory 1330, a processor 1340, and aninter-station communications manager 1345. These components may be inelectronic communication via one or more buses (e.g., bus 1350).

The communications manager 1310 may transmit a configuration for anactive time interval for a subset of PRBs used for wirelesscommunications and refrain from communicating with a UE over the subsetof PRBs for a first time period based on the configuration for theactive time interval.

The network communications manager 1315 may manage communications withthe core network (e.g., via one or more wired backhaul links). Forexample, the network communications manager 1315 may manage the transferof data communications for client devices, such as one or more UEs 115.

The transceiver 1320 may communicate bi-directionally, via one or moreantennas, wired, or wireless links as described above. For example, thetransceiver 1320 may represent a wireless transceiver and maycommunicate bi-directionally with another wireless transceiver. Thetransceiver 1320 may also include a modem to modulate the packets andprovide the modulated packets to the antennas for transmission, and todemodulate packets received from the antennas.

In some cases, the wireless device may include a single antenna 1325.However, in some cases the device may have more than one antenna 1325,which may be capable of concurrently transmitting or receiving multiplewireless transmissions.

The memory 1330 may include RAM, ROM, or a combination thereof. Thememory 1330 may store computer-readable code or software 1335 includinginstructions that, when executed by a processor (e.g., the processor1340) cause the device to perform various functions described herein. Insome cases, the memory 1330 may contain, among other things, a BIOSwhich may control basic hardware or software operation such as theinteraction with peripheral components or devices.

The processor 1340 may include an intelligent hardware device, (e.g., ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, a CPU, a microcontroller, an ASIC, anFPGA, a programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logiccomponent, a discrete hardware component, or any combination thereof).In some cases, the processor 1340 may be configured to operate a memoryarray using a memory controller. In some cases, a memory controller maybe integrated into processor 1340. The processor 1340 may be configuredto execute computer-readable instructions stored in a memory (e.g., thememory 1330) to cause the device 1305 to perform various functions(e.g., functions or tasks supporting NBWP time utilization for reducedcapability devices).

The inter-station communications manager 1345 may manage communicationswith other base station 105, and may include a controller or schedulerfor controlling communications with UEs 115 in cooperation with otherbase stations 105. For example, the inter-station communications manager1345 may coordinate scheduling for transmissions to UEs 115 for variousinterference mitigation techniques such as beamforming or jointtransmission. In some examples, the inter-station communications manager1345 may provide an X2 interface within an LTE/LTE-A wirelesscommunication network technology to provide communication between basestations 105.

The software 1335 may include instructions to implement aspects of thepresent disclosure, including instructions to support wirelesscommunications. The software 1335 may be stored in a non-transitorycomputer-readable medium such as system memory or other type of memory.In some cases, the software 1335 may not be directly executable by theprocessor 1340 but may cause a computer (e.g., when compiled andexecuted) to perform functions described herein.

FIG. 14 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1400 that supports NBWPtime utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1400 may beimplemented by a UE 115 or its components as described herein. Forexample, the operations of method 1400 may be performed by acommunications manager as described with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.In some examples, a UE may execute a set of instructions to control thefunctional elements of the UE to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, a UE may perform aspects of the functionsdescribed below using special-purpose hardware.

At 1405, the UE may receive a configuration for an active time intervalfor a subset of PRBs used for wireless communications. The operations of1405 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In someexamples, aspects of the operations of 1405 may be performed by a NBWPmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1410, the UE may refrain from monitoring the subset of PRBs for theUE for a first time period based on the configuration for the activetime interval. The operations of 1410 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of1410 may be performed by a NBWP manager as described with reference toFIGS. 6 through 9.

FIG. 15 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1500 that supports NBWPtime utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1500 may beimplemented by a UE 115 or its components as described herein. Forexample, the operations of method 1500 may be performed by acommunications manager as described with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.In some examples, a UE may execute a set of instructions to control thefunctional elements of the UE to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, a UE may perform aspects of the functionsdescribed below using special-purpose hardware.

At 1505, the UE may receive an activation indication for the subset ofPRBs for the UE. The operations of 1505 may be performed according tothe methods described herein. In some examples, aspects of theoperations of 1505 may be performed by a NBWP configuration manager asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1510, the UE may receive a configuration for an active time intervalfor a subset of PRBs used for wireless communications. The operations of1510 may be performed according to the methods described herein. In someexamples, aspects of the operations of 1510 may be performed by a NBWPmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1515, the UE may monitor the subset of PRBs for a SS based on thereceived activation indication. The operations of 1515 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects ofthe operations of 1515 may be performed by an SS manager as describedwith reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1520, the UE may receive the SS based on the monitoring. Theoperations of 1520 may be performed according to the methods describedherein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1520 may beperformed by an SS manager as described with reference to FIGS. 6through 9.

At 1525, the UE may receive a deactivation indication for the subset ofPRBs. The operations of 1525 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1525may be performed by a NBWP configuration manager as described withreference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1530, the UE may refrain from monitoring the subset of physicalresources blocks for the UE for a first time period based on thereceived deactivation indication. The operations of 1530 may beperformed according to the methods described herein. In some examples,aspects of the operations of 1530 may be performed by a NBWP manager asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

FIG. 16 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1600 that supports NBWPtime utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1600 may beimplemented by a UE 115 or its components as described herein. Forexample, the operations of method 1600 may be performed by acommunications manager as described with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.In some examples, a UE may execute a set of instructions to control thefunctional elements of the UE to perform the functions described below.Additionally or alternatively, a UE may perform aspects of the functionsdescribed below using special-purpose hardware.

At 1605, the UE may transmit an activation request for a subset of PRBs.The operations of 1605 may be performed according to the methodsdescribed herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1605may be performed by a NBWP request manager as described with referenceto FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1610, the UE may receive an activation indication for the subset ofPRBs based on the transmitted activation request. The operations of 1610may be performed according to the methods described herein. In someexamples, aspects of the operations of 1610 may be performed by a NBWPrequest manager as described with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1615, the UE may receive a configuration for an active time intervalfor a subset of PRBs used for wireless communications. For example, insome cases, an activation indication in response to an activationrequest may be associated with some active time interval (e.g., whichmay be predefined by the network, semi-statically configured by thenetwork, etc.). However, in other cases, an activation indication inresponse to an activation request may configure UE activation of thesubset of PRBs for an indefinite active time interval, such that thesubset of PRBs for the UE may be deactivated via a subsequentdeactivation indication (e.g., from the network). The operations of 1615may be performed according to the methods described herein. In someexamples, aspects of the operations of 1615 may be performed by a NBWPmanager as described with reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1620, the UE may monitor the subset of PRBs for a SS based at leastin part on the received activation indication and the configuration forthe active time interval. The operations of 1620 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects ofthe operations of 1620 may be performed by an SS manager as describedwith reference to FIGS. 6 through 9.

At 1625, the UE may receive the SS based on the monitoring. Theoperations of 1625 may be performed according to the methods describedherein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1625 may beperformed by an SS manager as described with reference to FIGS. 6through 9.

At 1630, the UE may refrain from monitoring the subset of PRBs for theUE for a first time period based on the configuration for the activetime interval. The operations of 1630 may be performed according to themethods described herein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of1630 may be performed by a NBWP manager as described with reference toFIGS. 6 through 9.

FIG. 17 shows a flowchart illustrating a method 1700 that supports NBWPtime utilization for reduced capability devices in accordance withaspects of the present disclosure. The operations of method 1700 may beimplemented by a base station 105 or its components as described herein.For example, the operations of method 1700 may be performed by acommunications manager as described with reference to FIGS. 10 through13. In some examples, a base station may execute a set of instructionsto control the functional elements of the base station to perform thefunctions described below. Additionally or alternatively, a base stationmay perform aspects of the functions described below usingspecial-purpose hardware.

At 1705, the base station may transmit a configuration for an activetime interval for a subset of PRBs used for wireless communications. Theoperations of 1705 may be performed according to the methods describedherein. In some examples, aspects of the operations of 1705 may beperformed by a UE NBWP manager as described with reference to FIGS. 10through 13.

At 1710, the base station may refrain from communicating with a UE overthe subset of PRBs for a first period of time based on the configurationfor the active time interval. The operations of 1710 may be performedaccording to the methods described herein. In some examples, aspects ofthe operations of 1710 may be performed by a UE NBWP manager asdescribed with reference to FIGS. 10 through 13.

The following provides an overview of aspects of the present disclosure:

Aspect 1: A method for wireless communication at a UE, comprising:receiving a configuration for an active time interval for a subset ofPRBs used for wireless communications; and refraining from monitoringthe subset of PRBs for the UE for a first time period based at least inpart on the configuration for the active time interval.

Aspect 2: The method of aspect 1, further comprising: monitoring thesubset of PRBs for an SS during the active time interval; and receivingthe SS based at least in part on the monitoring.

Aspect 3: The method of any of aspects 1 through 2, wherein receivingthe configuration for the active time interval for the subset of PRBscomprises: receiving an indication of a periodicity and a start timeassociated with the subset of PRBs, wherein the active time interval forthe subset of PRBs is determined based at least in part on the receivedindication.

Aspect 4: The method of aspect 3, wherein the indication of theperiodicity and the start time associated with the subset of PRBs isreceived via a SIB or dedicated RRC signaling.

Aspect 5: The method of any of aspects 1 through 4, further comprising:receiving an activation indication for the subset of PRBs for the UE,wherein the subset of PRBs are utilized based at least in part on thereceived activation indication; and receiving a deactivation indicationfor the subset of PRBs, wherein the active time interval for the subsetof PRBs is determined based at least in part on the deactivationindication.

Aspect 6: The method of aspect 5, wherein the activation indication isreceived via DCI, RRC signaling, a MACCE, or some combination thereof.

Aspect 7: The method of any of aspects 5 through 6, wherein thedeactivation indication is received via DCI, RRC signaling, a MACCE, orsome combination thereof.

Aspect 8: The method of any of aspects 5 through 7, wherein thedeactivation indication is received based at least in part on expirationof a network inactivity timer.

Aspect 9: The method of any of aspects 1 through 8, further comprising:transmitting an activation request for the subset of PRBs; and receivingan activation indication for the subset of PRBs based at least in parton the transmitted activation request, wherein the subset of PRBs areutilized based at least in part on the received activation indication.

Aspect 10: The method of any of aspects 1 through 9, further comprising:receiving an indication of the subset of PRBs and the active timeinterval, wherein the subset of PRBs are utilized during the active timeinterval based at least in part on the received indication.

Aspect 11: The method of aspect 10, wherein the indication is receivedvia DCI, RRC signaling, a MACCE, or some combination thereof.

Aspect 12: A method for wireless communication at a base station,comprising: transmitting a configuration for an active time interval fora subset of PRBs used for wireless communications; and refraining fromcommunicating with a UE over the subset of PRBs for a first time periodbased at least in part on the configuration for the active timeinterval.

Aspect 13: The method of aspect 12, further comprising: determining anSS for the UE; and transmitting, during the active time interval, thesubset of PRBs comprising the SS to the UE

Aspect 14: The method of aspect 13, further comprising: transmitting anindication of a periodicity and a start time associated with the subsetof PRBs based at least in part on the configuration for the active timeinterval, wherein the subset of PRBs are transmitted and refraining fromcommunicating with the UE over the subset of PRBs is based at least inpart on the periodicity and the start time.

Aspect 15: The method of aspect 14, wherein the indication of theperiodicity and the start time associated with the subset of PRBs istransmitted via a SIB or dedicated RRC signaling.

Aspect 16: The method of any of aspects 13 through 15, furthercomprising: transmitting an activation indication for the subset ofPRBs, wherein the subset of PRBs are transmitted based at least in parton the activation indication; and transmitting a deactivation indicationfor the subset of PRBs based at least in part on refraining fromcommunicating with the UE over the subset of physical resource.

Aspect 17: The method of aspect 16, wherein the activation indication istransmitted via DCI, RRC signaling, a MACCE, or some combinationthereof.

Aspect 18: The method of any of aspects 16 through 17, wherein thedeactivation indication is transmitted via DCI, RRC signaling, a MACCE,or some combination thereof.

Aspect 19: The method of any of aspects 16 through 18, furthercomprising: identifying a network inactivity timer has expired, whereinthe deactivation indication is transmitted based at least in part onexpiration of the network inactivity timer.

Aspect 20: The method of any of aspects 13 through 19, furthercomprising: receiving an activation request for the subset of PRBs fromthe UE; and transmitting an activation indication for the subset ofPRBs, wherein the subset of PRBs are transmitted based at least in parton the transmitted activation indication.

Aspect 21: The method of any of aspects 13 through 20, furthercomprising: transmitting an indication of the subset of PRBs and theactive time interval, wherein the subset of PRBs are transmitted duringthe active time interval based at least in part on the transmittedindication.

Aspect 22: The method of aspect 21, wherein the indication istransmitted via DCI, RRC signaling, a MACCE, or some combinationthereof.

Aspect 23: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, comprising aprocessor; memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored inthe memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus toperform a method of any of aspects 1 through 11.

Aspect 24: An apparatus for wireless communication at a UE, comprisingat least one means for performing a method of any of aspects 1 through11.

Aspect 25: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code forwireless communication at a UE, the code comprising instructionsexecutable by a processor to perform a method of any of aspects 1through 11.

Aspect 26: An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station,comprising a processor; memory coupled with the processor; andinstructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor tocause the apparatus to perform a method of any of aspects 12 through 22.

Aspect 27: An apparatus for wireless communication at a base station,comprising at least one means for performing a method of any of aspects12 through 22.

Aspect 28: A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing code forwireless communication at a base station, the code comprisinginstructions executable by a processor to perform a method of any ofaspects 12 through 22.

It should be noted that the methods described herein describe possibleimplementations, and that the operations and the steps may be rearrangedor otherwise modified and that other implementations are possible.Further, aspects from two or more of the methods may be combined. Thefollowing examples are given by way of illustration. Aspects of thefollowing examples may be combined with aspects or embodiments shown ordiscussed in relation to the figures or elsewhere herein.

Techniques described herein may be used for various wirelesscommunications systems such as code division multiple access (CDMA),time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access(FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), singlecarrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA), and other systems.A CDMA system may implement a radio technology such as CDMA2000,Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), etc. CDMA2000 covers IS-2000,IS-95, and IS-856 standards. IS-2000 Releases may be commonly referredto as CDMA2000 1X, 1X, etc. IS-856 (TIA-856) is commonly referred to asCDMA2000 1xEV-DO, High Rate Packet Data (HRPD), etc. UTRA includesWideband CDMA (WCDMA) and other variants of CDMA. A TDMA system mayimplement a radio technology such as Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM).

An OFDMA system may implement a radio technology such as Ultra MobileBroadband (UMB), Evolved UTRA (E-UTRA), Institute of Electrical andElectronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE802.20, Flash-OFDM, etc. UTRA and E-UTRA are part of Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UNITS). LTE, LTE-A, and LTE-A Pro arereleases of UMTS that use E-UTRA. UTRA, E-UTRA, UMTS, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-APro, NR, and a global system for mobile communications (GSM) aredescribed in documents from the organization named “3rd GenerationPartnership Project” (3GPP). CDMA2000 and UMB are described in documentsfrom an organization named “3rd Generation Partnership Project 2”(3GPP2). The techniques described herein may be used for the systems andradio technologies mentioned herein as well as other systems and radiotechnologies. While aspects of an LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NR systemmay be described for purposes of example, and LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, orNR terminology may be used in much of the description, the techniquesdescribed herein are applicable beyond LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, or NRapplications.

A macro cell generally covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g.,several kilometers in radius) and may allow unrestricted access by UEswith service subscriptions with the network provider. A small cell maybe associated with a lower-powered base station, as compared with amacro cell, and a small cell may operate in the same or different (e.g.,licensed or unlicensed) frequency bands as macro cells. Small cells mayinclude pico cells, femto cells, and micro cells according to variousexamples. A pico cell, for example, may cover a small geographic areaand may allow unrestricted access by UEs with service subscriptions withthe network provider. A femto cell may also cover a small geographicarea (e.g., a home) and may provide restricted access by UEs having anassociation with the femto cell (e.g., UEs in a closed subscriber group(CSG), UEs for users in the home, and the like). An eNB for a macro cellmay be referred to as a macro eNB. An eNB for a small cell may bereferred to as a small cell eNB, a pico eNB, a femto eNB, or a home eNB.An eNB may support one or multiple (e.g., two, three, four, and thelike) cells, and may also support communications using one or multiplecomponent carriers.

The wireless communications systems described herein may supportsynchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, thebase stations may have similar frame timing, and transmissions fromdifferent base stations may be approximately aligned in time. Forasynchronous operation, the base stations may have different frametiming, and transmissions from different base stations may not bealigned in time. The techniques described herein may be used for eithersynchronous or asynchronous operations.

Information and signals described herein may be represented using any ofa variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data,instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chipsthat may be referenced throughout the description may be represented byvoltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles,optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

The various illustrative blocks and modules described in connection withthe disclosure herein may be implemented or performed with ageneral-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA, or otherprogrammable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discretehardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform thefunctions described herein. A general-purpose processor may be amicroprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be anyconventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. Aprocessor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices(e.g., a combination of a digital signal processor (DSP) and amicroprocessor, multiple microprocessors, one or more microprocessors inconjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration).

The functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, softwareexecuted by a processor, firmware, or any combination thereof. Ifimplemented in software executed by a processor, the functions may bestored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on acomputer-readable medium. Other examples and implementations are withinthe scope of the disclosure and appended claims. For example, due to thenature of software, functions described herein can be implemented usingsoftware executed by a processor, hardware, firmware, hardwiring, orcombinations of any of these. Features implementing functions may alsobe physically located at various positions, including being distributedsuch that portions of functions are implemented at different physicallocations.

Computer-readable media includes both non-transitory computer storagemedia and communication media including any medium that facilitatestransfer of a computer program from one place to another. Anon-transitory storage medium may be any available medium that can beaccessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer. By way ofexample, and not limitation, non-transitory computer-readable media mayinclude RAM, ROM, electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM), flashmemory, compact disk (CD) ROM or other optical disk storage, magneticdisk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any othernon-transitory medium that can be used to carry or store desired programcode means in the form of instructions or data structures and that canbe accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer, or ageneral-purpose or special-purpose processor. Also, any connection isproperly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the softwareis transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using acoaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line(DSL), or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave,then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, orwireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave areincluded in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein,include CD, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD),floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce datamagnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers.Combinations of the above are also included within the scope ofcomputer-readable media.

As used herein, including in the claims, “or” as used in a list of items(e.g., a list of items prefaced by a phrase such as “at least one of” or“one or more of”) indicates an inclusive list such that, for example, alist of at least one of A, B, or C means A or B or C or AB or AC or BCor ABC (i.e., A and B and C). Also, as used herein, the phrase “basedon” shall not be construed as a reference to a closed set of conditions.For example, an exemplary step that is described as “based on conditionA” may be based on both a condition A and a condition B withoutdeparting from the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, asused herein, the phrase “based on” shall be construed in the same manneras the phrase “based at least in part on.”

In the appended figures, similar components or features may have thesame reference label. Further, various components of the same type maybe distinguished by following the reference label by a dash and a secondlabel that distinguishes among the similar components. If just the firstreference label is used in the specification, the description isapplicable to any one of the similar components having the same firstreference label irrespective of the second reference label, or othersubsequent reference label.

The description set forth herein, in connection with the appendeddrawings, describes example configurations and does not represent allthe examples that may be implemented or that are within the scope of theclaims. The term “exemplary” used herein means “serving as an example,instance, or illustration,” and not “preferred” or “advantageous overother examples.” The detailed description includes specific details forthe purpose of providing an understanding of the described techniques.These techniques, however, may be practiced without these specificdetails. In some instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the concepts of thedescribed examples.

The description herein is provided to enable a person skilled in the artto make or use the disclosure. Various modifications to the disclosurewill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the genericprinciples defined herein may be applied to other variations withoutdeparting from the scope of the disclosure. Thus, the disclosure is notlimited to the examples and designs described herein, but is to beaccorded the broadest scope consistent with the principles and novelfeatures disclosed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wireless communication at a userequipment (UE), comprising: receiving a configuration for an active timeinterval for a subset of physical resource blocks used for wirelesscommunications; and refraining from monitoring the subset of physicalresource blocks for the UE for a first time period based at least inpart on the configuration for the active time interval.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: monitoring the subset of physical resourceblocks for a synchronization signal during the active time interval; andreceiving the synchronization signal based at least in part on themonitoring.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving theconfiguration for the active time interval for the subset of physicalresource blocks comprises: receiving an indication of a periodicity anda start time associated with the subset of physical resource blocks,wherein the active time interval for the subset of physical resourceblocks is determined based at least in part on the received indication.4. The method of claim 3, wherein the indication of the periodicity andthe start time associated with the subset of physical resource blocks isreceived via a system information block or dedicated radio resourcecontrol signaling.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:receiving an activation indication for the subset of physical resourceblocks for the UE, wherein the subset of physical resource blocks areutilized based at least in part on the received activation indication;and receiving a deactivation indication for the subset of physicalresource blocks, wherein the active time interval for the subset ofphysical resource blocks is determined based at least in part on thedeactivation indication.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein theactivation indication is received via downlink control information,radio resource control signaling, a medium access control element, orsome combination thereof.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein thedeactivation indication is received via downlink control information,radio resource control signaling, a medium access control element, orsome combination thereof.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein thedeactivation indication is received based at least in part on expirationof a network inactivity timer.
 9. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: transmitting an activation request for the subset ofphysical resource blocks; and receiving an activation indication for thesubset of physical resource blocks based at least in part on thetransmitted activation request, wherein the subset of physical resourceblocks are utilized based at least in part on the received activationindication.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving anindication of the subset of physical resource blocks and the active timeinterval, wherein the subset of physical resource blocks are utilizedduring the active time interval based at least in part on the receivedindication.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the indication isreceived via downlink control information, radio resource controlsignaling, a medium access control element, or some combination thereof.12. A method for wireless communication at a base station, comprising:transmitting a configuration for an active time interval for a subset ofphysical resource blocks used for wireless communications; andrefraining from communicating with a user equipment (UE) over the subsetof physical resource blocks for a first time period based at least inpart on the configuration for the active time interval.
 13. The methodof claim 12, further comprising: determining a synchronization signalfor the UE; and transmitting, during the active time interval, thesubset of physical resource blocks comprising the synchronization signalto the UE
 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising: transmittingan indication of a periodicity and a start time associated with thesubset of physical resource blocks based at least in part on theconfiguration for the active time interval, wherein the subset ofphysical resource blocks are transmitted and refraining fromcommunicating with the UE over the subset of physical resource blocks isbased at least in part on the periodicity and the start time.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, wherein the indication of the periodicity and thestart time associated with the subset of physical resource blocks istransmitted via a system information block or dedicated radio resourcecontrol signaling.
 16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:transmitting an activation indication for the subset of physicalresource blocks, wherein the subset of physical resource blocks aretransmitted based at least in part on the activation indication; andtransmitting a deactivation indication for the subset of physicalresource blocks based at least in part on refraining from communicatingwith the UE over the subset of physical resource.
 17. The method ofclaim 16, wherein the activation indication is transmitted via downlinkcontrol information, radio resource control signaling, a medium accesscontrol element, or some combination thereof.
 18. The method of claim16, wherein the deactivation indication is transmitted via downlinkcontrol information, radio resource control signaling, a medium accesscontrol element, or some combination thereof.
 19. The method of claim16, further comprising: identifying a network inactivity timer hasexpired, wherein the deactivation indication is transmitted based atleast in part on expiration of the network inactivity timer.
 20. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising: receiving an activation requestfor the subset of physical resource blocks from the UE; and transmittingan activation indication for the subset of physical resource blocks,wherein the subset of physical resource blocks are transmitted based atleast in part on the transmitted activation indication.
 21. The methodof claim 13, further comprising: transmitting an indication of thesubset of physical resource blocks and the active time interval, whereinthe subset of physical resource blocks are transmitted during the activetime interval based at least in part on the transmitted indication. 22.The method of claim 21, wherein the indication is transmitted viadownlink control information, radio resource control signaling, a mediumaccess control element, or some combination thereof.
 23. An apparatusfor wireless communication at a user equipment (UE), comprising: aprocessor, memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored inthe memory and executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to:receive a configuration for an active time interval for a subset ofphysical resource blocks used for wireless communications; and refrainfrom monitoring the subset of physical resource blocks for the UE for afirst time period based at least in part on the configuration for theactive time interval.
 24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein theinstructions are further executable by the processor to cause theapparatus to: monitor the subset of physical resource blocks for asynchronization signal during the active time interval; and receive thesynchronization signal based at least in part on the monitoring.
 25. Theapparatus of claim 23, wherein the instructions are further executableby the processor to cause the apparatus to: receive an activationindication for the subset of physical resource blocks for the UE,wherein the subset of physical resource blocks are utilized based atleast in part on the received activation indication; and receive adeactivation indication for the subset of physical resource blocks,wherein the active time interval for the subset of physical resourceblocks is determined based at least in part on the deactivationindication.
 26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the instructions arefurther executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: transmitan activation request for the subset of physical resource blocks; andreceive an activation indication for the subset of physical resourceblocks based at least in part on the transmitted activation request,wherein the subset of physical resource blocks are utilized based atleast in part on the received activation indication.
 27. An apparatusfor wireless communication at a base station, comprising: a processor,memory coupled with the processor; and instructions stored in the memoryand executable by the processor to cause the apparatus to: transmit aconfiguration for an active time interval for a subset of physicalresource blocks used for wireless communications to a user equipment(UE); and refrain from communicating with the UE over the subset ofphysical resource blocks for a first time period based at least in parton the configuration for the active time interval.
 28. The apparatus ofclaim 27, wherein the instructions are further executable by theprocessor to cause the apparatus to: determine a synchronization signalfor a user equipment (UE); and transmit, during the active timeinterval, the subset of physical resource blocks comprising thesynchronization signal to the UE;
 29. The apparatus of claim 28, whereinthe instructions are further executable by the processor to cause theapparatus to: transmit an activation indication for the subset ofphysical resource blocks, wherein the subset of physical resource blocksare transmitted based at least in part on the activation indication; andtransmit a deactivation indication for the subset of physical resourceblocks based at least in part on refraining from communicating with theUE over the subset of physical resource blocks.
 30. The apparatus ofclaim 28, wherein the instructions are further executable by theprocessor to cause the apparatus to: receive an activation request forthe subset of physical resource blocks from the UE; and transmit anactivation indication for the subset of physical resource blocks,wherein the subset of physical resource blocks are transmitted based atleast in part on the transmitted activation indication.